Factores maternos asociados con el comportamiento de la lactancia materna exclusiva

Abstract

Exclusive breastfeeding is essential for the development of the baby in the first months of life. However, in recent years, a worrying decrease in this practice has been observed.

Objective: to describe the behavior of exclusive breastfeeding and its relationship with mothers' age, occupation and level of knowledge.

Methods: observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study, population of 174 mothers, from which a sample of 148 was selected, by means of probabilistic sampling by quotas, choosing participants randomly under inclusion and exclusion criteria, in the last quarter of 2022 in two health areas of Holguin municipality.

Results: 47 % of the mothers stopped breastfeeding their child exclusively in the first three months of age, 26 % at five months and 27 % maintain it for more than six months, the most representative group in the study are mothers between 20 and 30 years of age, predominantly those who work and 90,5 % of them have knowledge on the subject of exclusive breastfeeding, not showing a significant relationship between these variables. Hypogalactia was the main reason for early abandonment of exclusive breastfeeding.

Conclusions: the duration of exclusive breastfeeding is below WHO recommendations, the abandonment of this practice is associated to not having enough milk, to the incorporation to work or school and that the child is not able to breastfeed exclusively.